Taylor v. Colvin

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: March 11, 2024
• Docket: 2:13-cv-01260
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 Marc V. Kalagian Attorney at Law: 4460 2 Law Offices of Rohlfing & Kalagian, LLP 211 East Ocean Boulevard, Suite 420 3 Long Beach, CA 90802 Tel.: (562)437-7006 4 Fax: (562)432-2935 E-mail: rohlfing.kalagian@rksslaw.com 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 Susan M Taylor 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 9 10 SUSAN M TAYLOR, ) Case No.: 2:13-cv-01260-JCM-CWH 11 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD 12 ) AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY vs. ) FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL 13 ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Acting ) § 2412(d) 14 Commissioner of Social Security, ) ) 15 Defendant. ) ) 16 ) 17 TO THE HONORABLE CARL W. HOFFMAN, MAGISTRATE JUDGE 18 OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 19 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their 20 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Susan M Taylor be 21 awarded attorney fees in the amount of Two Thousand dollars ($2,000.00) under 22 the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). This amount 23 represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by 24 counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 25 2412(d). 26 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Susan M Taylor, the 2 government will consider the matter of Susan M Taylor's assignment of EAJA fees 3 to Marc V. Kalagian. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is 4 attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), 5 the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to 6 any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset 7 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 8 whether they are subject to any offset. 9 Fees shall be made payable to Susan M Taylor, but if the Department of the 10 Treasury determines that Susan M Taylor does not owe a federal debt, then the 11 government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 12 directly to Law Offices of Rohlfing & Kalagian, LLP, pursuant to the assignment 13 executed by Susan M Taylor. United States v. $186,416.00, 722 F.3d 1173, 1176 14 (9th Cir. 2013) ($186,416.00 II) (ordering fees paid to counsel because of an 15 assignment that did not interfere with a raised superior lien).1 Any payments made 16 shall be delivered to Marc V. Kalagian. 17

18 1 The Commissioner does not stipulate to the citation of $186,416.00 II, and will 19 not participate in representing to this Court that it carries legal import in these proceedings. $186,416 II involved a different statute and very different factual 20 circumstances than those presented here, or in other Social Security cases. 21 Because the parties have agreed to the payment of EAJA fees, and the amount, and to avoid motion practice solely related to Plaintiff’s citation, the Commissioner 22 agrees to this stipulation. The Commissioner reserves the right to challenge the 23 applicability of $186,416 to any Social Security case, and this Stipulation should not be construed as a waiver of such reservation. 24 Susan M. Taylor contends that U.S. v. $186,416.00 in U.S. Currency, 642 F.3d 25 753, 757 (9th Cir. 2011) ($186,416.00 I)held that there is no functional difference 26 between the CAFRA and EAJA in terms of "ownership" of the fee. 1 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Susan M Taylor's 2 request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on 3 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 4 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Susan 5 M Taylor and/or Marc V. Kalagian including Law Offices of Rohlfing & Kalagian, 6 LLP may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 7 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Marc V. Kalagian and/or the 8 Law Offices of Rohlfing & Kalagian, LLP to seek Social Security Act attorney 9 fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the 10 EAJA. 11 DATE: March 4, 2014 Respectfully submitted, 12 ROHLFING & KALAGIAN, LLP 13 /s/ Marc V. Kalagian BY: __________________ 14 Marc V. Kalagian Attorney for plaintiff Susan M Taylor 15 16 DATED: March 4, 2014 Daniel G. Bogden United States Attorney 17 18 19 /s/ Michael K. Marriott 20 BY: 21 Michael K. Marriott Special Assistant United States Attorney 22 Attorneys for Defendant Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security 23 (Per e-mail authorization) 24 25 26 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FOR CASE NUMBER 2:13-CV-01260-JCM-CWH 2 I hereby certify that I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the 3 4 Court for this court by using the CM/ECF system on March 4, 2014. 5 I certify that all participants in the case are registered CM/ECF users and 6 that service will be accomplished by the CM/ECF system, except the plaintiff 7 served herewith by mail. 8 9 /s/ Marc V. Kalagian _______________________________ 10 Marc V. Kalagian 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 || Marc V. Kalagian Attorney at Law: 4460 2 ||Law Offices of Rohlfing & Kalagian, LLP 211 East Ocean Boulevard, Suite 420 3 || Long Beach, CA 90802 Tel.: (562)437-7006 4 || Fax: (562)432-2935 E-mail: rohlfing-kalagian @rksslaw.com Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 || Susan M Taylor 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 10 SUSAN M TAYLOR, ) Case No.: 2:13-cv-01260-JCM-CWH 11 ) Plaintiff, □□ ORDER AWARDING 12 ) EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT VS. ) ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO 13 ) 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Acting ) 14 || Commissioner of Social Security, ) ) 15 Defendant ) ) 16 ) 17 8 Based upon the parties’ Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Equal

Access to Justice Act Fees, Costs, and Expenses: 50 IT IS ORDERED that fees in the amount of $2,000.00 as authorized by 28

U.S.C. § 2412, be awarded subject to the terms of the Stipulation.

23 ht Je Atal Mens ‘UNITES STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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